“What a beautiful name. It suits you.”
Emily smiled, blushed slightly, and walked back to work without looking behind her.
She didn’t see Alexander approach the table.
“Did you know her?” he asked his mother.
Margaret shook her head.
“No. She was simply kind, Alex. Sometimes that’s enough.”
Alexander called the café manager over.
Within twenty minutes, he had learned more about Emily than he expected: she had worked there for nearly two years, never missed a shift, often covered for coworkers, had never received a complaint, and worked extra delivery hours on weekends.
She lived modestly.
Yet despite her exhaustion, she had stopped to help a stranger with a tenderness that cannot be purchased or trained.
When Emily returned to clean the table, Alexander looked up at her.
“Did you know my mother before today?”
She frowned slightly.
“No.”
“Then why did you help her like that?”
Emily looked at him as if the question itself made no sense.
“Because she needed help.”
Alexander took a card from his wallet and placed it on the table.
“Call me tomorrow. I’d like to offer you a job.”
Emily glanced at the card, then at him, then back at the card.
With a calm that unsettled him, she slid it back across the table.